Chapter 4
Hydraulic Modification
Hydraulic modification
Hydraulic modification: Free –pore water is forced out of the
soil via (by means of) drains of wells. This may involve any
change or “improvement” in the ground that has to do with
drainage, dewatering, seepage, or groundwater flow.
- In coarse grained soils, this is achieved by lowering the ground
water level through pumping from boreholes or trenches.
- In fine-grained soils, The long term application of external
loads (preloading) or electrical forces (electrokinetic
stabilization) is required.
Cont…
The main objectives to modifying hydraulic parameters in the ground include:
Temporary lowering of the water table over a site area (construction
dewatering)
Permanent lowering of the water table (for permanent subsurface
structures)
Providing drainage to relieve hydrostatic and seepage pressures (reducing
lateral earth pressures, upward gradient forces)
Providing drainage to alleviate ponding or pumping
Redirecting flow to reduce seepage and exit gradients , creating low
permeability “barriers” to retain or convey water and prevent water
migration (shrink/swell and heave control)
Increasing slope stability, bearing capacity , Reducing soil compressibility
Filtering water to prevent soil migration (cavities and piping) and
contamination” (construction catchments, silt fences)
Cont…
Hydraulic modification of insitu soil refers to dewatering or
removal of excess ground water, in situations where an
excavation goes past beyond the natural ground water table in
the area or if the removal of excess moisture in the site
improves the strength characteristics of the insitu soil.
In coarse grained soils, dewatering can be achieved by using
traditional methods like gravity drainage into sumps, ditches
and wells. In fine grained soils gravity drainage is slow or
ineffective, for this type of ground the process of dewatering
becomes synonymous with forced consolidation.
Cont…
Dewatering a site can be done for any of the following reasons.
To provide a dry working area, such as in excavations for building
foundations, dams and tunnels.
To stabilize constructed or natural slopes.
To reduce lateral pressures on foundations or retaining structures.
To reduce the compressibility of granular soils.
To improve the workability or hauling characteristics of borrow
materials.
To prevent liquefaction due to an upward gradient.
To reduce the liquefaction potential during earthquakes.
To reduce soil particle movement by groundwater leading to piping
To prevent surface erosion.
To prevent or reduce damage due to frost heave.
Traditional Dewatering Methods
Traditional Dewatering Methods
1) Open sumps and ditches
2) Gravity flow wells
3) Vacuum dewatering wells
Open sumps and ditches: are a cheap and most common means
of dewatering in construction industry. These methods are more
suited for dewatering in shallow excavations and preferably in
coarse grained soils. Open sumps and ditches are depressions
made in the site into which ground water flows by gravity.
The accumulated water is then removed from the site using
electric/diesel pump.
Cont…
Dewatering in clayey soils can be accomplished by using a
combination of toe drains, gravel filled lateral slots and Open
sumps and ditches.
Cont…
Water being dewatered from open sump
Water being dewatered from ditch
Cont…
A gravity flow wells system: is similar to a bored well in which
a bored shaft is made in the ground to the necessary depth. The
shaft is prevented from collapsing by introducing a perforated
metal casing into the shaft. The shaft is normally 150-200 mm in
diameter.
When the ground water level in the shaft is lowered by
pumping the water out using a submersible pump, the
groundwater in the influence area surrounding the shaft tries
to flow into the well by gravity, thereby lowering the
groundwater level in the surrounding area. A maximum of 3.5
m to 4 m lowering of water level can be done using a single
stage gravity well system.
Cont…
If the depth of excavation needed is much higher than the 4 m
mark, multiple stages of well point systems are needed.
In general practice a series of well points are connected via
header pipes to pumps when dewatering an area is needed.
Going for a higher depth of dewatering in a single stage can
lead to dangerous working conditions in the event of pump
failure.
Single stage well point system
Multistage well point system
Cont…
Advantages of well point system
Installation is very rapid, requires reasonably simple and less costly
equipment
Water is filtered and carries little or no soil particles.
There is less danger of subsidence of the surrounding ground than
with open-sump pumping
Disadvantages of well point system
A lowering of about 6 m below pump level is generally possible
beyond which excessive air shall be drawn into the system through
the joints in the pipes, valves, etc., resulting in the loss of pumping
efficiency.
If the ground is consisting mainly of large gravel, stiff clay or soil
containing cobbles or boulders it is not possible to install well points.
Cont…
Vacuum Dewatering wells: Soils like fine sands and silts because
of their finer particle size and associated capillarity do not allow
groundwater to flow freely under the influence of gravity.
The above mentioned methods of dewatering may not yield
satisfactory results, since the volume of water flowing into the
bored shaft is small. When such soils are encountered, after
making sure the shaft is airtight, vacuum action is applied in the
shaft which thereby increases the flow of water into the shaft.
Vacuum pumps when used along with submersible pumps
provide better results. To be effective, vacuum wells have to be
spaced very closely say 1-2.5 m apart. The distance between the
rows of wells should not be more than 15-20 m.
Cont…
This method is suitable in layered or stratified soil with k in the
range of 0.1 to 10x10-4 cm/s
Vacuum Dewatering wells
Preloading and use of vertical drains
Methods of application in hydraulic modification
A) Preloading or precompression: is the process wherein a
temporary surcharge is placed on the ground, prior to
construction of the structure.
Preloading is surcharging the ground with a uniformly
distributed surface load prior to the construction of structures
and the pressure due to the surcharge is normally equal to or
higher than the bearing pressure due to the proposed structure,
and the soil is forced to undergo settlements that would have
otherwise happened post construction.
Once the anticipated settlements have taken place, the
surcharge is removed and the construction is started.
Cont…
As in the case of oedometer testing, when a surcharge load is
applied on the soil, the soil particles are pushed towards each
other causing an increase in the pore water pressure.
Depending upon the permeability of the soil media the pore
pressure dissipation takes place, with pore water leaving the soil
mass, causing a volumetric change in the soil mass. If the soil
mass is highly permeable, the time needed for pore pressure
dissipation and the accompanying settlements is also less. And
the vice versa is also true.
Soil suitable for preloading: compressible soft to medium
saturated clays and silts, organic clays, peats.
Consolidation of these soils is a long-term process, unless the
existing longest drainage paths are shortened by the installation
of drains.
Cont…
q1 = actual structure
q2 = preloading weight
Types of preloads: earth fills (most common), construction waste,
concrete blocks, water in tanks or ponds, vacuum application under
a membrane, special anchor and jack systems, ground water
lowering etc
The two common preloading techniques are conventional
preloading and vacuum induced preloading.
1). Conventional Preloading: A preload is applied, e. g. by means of
an embankment. When the load is placed on the soft soil, it is
initially carried by the pore water and this pore water pressure
decreases gradually as the pore water flows away very slowly in
vertical direction (Figure below).
Cont…
In order not to create any stability problems, the load must
mostly be placed in two or more stages. The temporary surcharge
cab be removed when the settlements exceeds the predicted final
settlement.
This should preferably not happen before the remaining excess
pore pressure is below the stress increase caused by the
temporary surcharge.
By increasing the time of temporary overloading, or the size of
overload, secondary settlement can be reduced.
This is because by using a surcharge higher than the workload,
the soil will always be in an over consolidated state and the
secondary compression for over consolidated soil are much
smaller than that of normally consolidated soil. This will benefit
greatly the subsequent geotechnical design.
Cont…
If the temporary load exceeds
the final construction load,
the excess refers to as
surcharge load.
Preloading of soil
2) Vacuum Preloading: When the soil is soft and so weak that even a
common 1.5 m embankment can cause stability problems, then it is
suitable to use the method of vacuum preloading.
Cont…
In this method the surcharge load is replaced by atmospheric
pressure. It consists of a system of vertical sand drain and a
drainage layer (sand) on top and is sealed from atmosphere by
an impervious membrane
Horizontal drains are installed in the drainage layer and
connected to a vacuum pump. Negative pressure is created in the
drainage layer by means of the vacuum pump.
The applied negative pressure generates negative pore water
pressures, resulting in an increase in effective stress in the
soil, which in turn is leading to an accelerated
consolidation.
The common advantage of vacuum preloading are that there is
no extra fill material needed, the construction time are generally
shorter and it requires no heavy machinery
Cont…
Cont…
compressible soils are usually characterized by very low
permeability, the time needed for the desired consolidation can
be very long, even with very high surcharge load.
Therefore, the application of preloading alone may not be feasible
with tight construction schedules and hence, a system of vertical
drains is often introduced to achieve accelerated radial drainage and
consolidation by reducing the length of the drainage paths.
Vertical drains: are used for speeding up the consolidation and
thus increasing the shear strength and bearing capacity of fine
grained soils (or say impervious soils), as they provide a shorter
distance for water to travel through the permeable vertical drains
out of soil.
Cont…
This limits the long term settlement. They are also known as
wick drain or band drain. There are two common types of
vertical drains namely, sand drains and Geosynthetic drains
(prefabricated vertical drains PVD).
The process of consolidation occurring during preloading can be
accelerated by using vertical drains and thereby reduce the
construction time needed.
Sand drains and PVD’s when used in clay soils act as high
permeable zones through which pore water can leave the soil.
When these high permeable zones are distributed at regular
intervals in the site, the distance pore water needs to traverse
decreases drastically leading to a faster dissipation of pore water
pressure, which in turn is reflected as reduced time needed for
primary consolidation and settlement
Cont…
1) Sand Drains: these are the vertical drains in which holes are
drilled using rotary drilling and the hole is filled with sand which is
highly permeable.
It is a process of radial consolidation which increase rate of
drainage and allows faster consolidation of fine grained soil.
Sand drain with surcharge
Cont…
Cylindrical sand drains are, as the name indicates cylindrical in
shape with diameters ranging from 200 to 450 mm. Sand drains
owing to their larger particle size and the associated relatively
higher permeabilities act as drainage layer when introduced into
fine grained soils.
These sand drains are spaced 1.5 to 6m apart. To minimise sand
wastage and ease construction, sand prepacked in a fabric sock
has been developed.
Cont…
Geosynthetic drains: Scarcity of good quality sand and other
issues like
discontinuity of sand drain due to soil movement,
clogging of sand drains leading to a decrease in permeability
densification of sand in the sand drains due to surcharge loading
resulting in a decrease in the permeability rendering the sand
drain useless etc. has prompted the development of geosynthetic
drains.
Most synthetic drains are of a strip shape, although circular plastic
drainage pipes wrapped in a geotextile could also serve as vertical
drains. Strip drains are generally about 100 mm wide and 2 to 6 mm
thick.
Cont…
2) Prefabricated vertical drains: also known as wick drains
consist of channeled synthetics core wrapped in geotextile fabric.
They are flexible, durable, and inexpensive and have an
advantage over sand drains is that they don't need drilling.
The installation of prefabricated vertical drains is done by a
mandrel and it is a displacement installation. The dimensions of
the prefabricated drains are much smaller compared to sand
drains and subsequently are the dimensions of the mandrel.
Thus, the degree of soil disturbance caused by the size of the
mandrel during installations is lower.
Cont…
Advantages of synthetic drains are
Easy, rapid installation is possible.
Made of uniform material, easily stored and transported.
Equipment needed is lighter than the rigs required for
equivalent sand drains.
Tensile strength of the strips helps to preserve continuity.
Low cost (site treatment may be possible for only one-fourth
the cost of traditional sand drains).
Cont…
Typical mandrel and shape of a prefabricated drain
Cont…
preloading Vertical drain
Reduce total and Speed up settlement
differential settlement process,
Secondary settlement is not
speeded up by vertical
drains.
Economy in foundation Do not reduce the amount
system of deformation under a
given load
Preloading along with vertical drains
accelerates the primary settlement only, though
no influence of vertical drains on the final
settlement has been observed
Cont…
B) Electro-osmosis: Electro osmotic consolidation means the
consolidation of soft clays by the application of electric current.
The fundamental process is that the application of an electric
potential (DC current) will draw the dipolar water molecules
toward the negative terminal (cathode), where it can be removed
from the ground. This results in dewatering by drawing water out of
the soil and reducing moisture content. Electroosmosis has been
demonstrated to be effective in stabilizing soft silts and clays,
removing contaminants, and forced consolidation, among other
applications.
